Her tour guide was Armenian Armed Forces Chief of Staff Edward Asryan, who complained in a long and tedious manner that “the enemy invaded Armenia’s sovereign territory of over 60 square kilometers in the direction of Jermuk,” “actively used missiles, artillery and drones, striking military, economic and civilian objects”, etc. He also lamented tearfully that the cableway in “Jermuk” is still not operational.
One wonders whether Mr. Asryan told Madame Colonna that the fighting in September 2022 began as a result of a provocation by Armenia itself, and whether he shared what plans were then being made in Yerevan. It is even less clear how Yerevan calculates the “depth of the invasion” and determines the “sovereign territory of Armenia” if the border remains undelimited—undelimited in favor of Armenia.
But we have far more serious questions for the head of the French Foreign Ministry. These kinds of trips do not just happen because someone says “Madame, let’s go to ‘Jermuk’ for a couple of hours, there is excellent mineral water and my friends are already waiting for us with marinated meat for kebabs.” All details of the visit are carefully elaborated by the protocol services of BOTH countries. That is, the protocol service of the French minister did not object to the Istisu trip. Yes, there was a formal occasion, the mission of European observers, but the meeting with Markus Ritter could have been held in Yerevan. Not to mention that sending a mission to Armenia unilaterally, in violation of the Prague agreements, is not a good idea either. And most importantly, walking around the city with Asryan as a guide certainly does not fit into the narrative with the European observers. After all, what, say, Anne Hidalgo can afford, the head of the Foreign Ministry cannot. This is a different level of responsibility and there supposedly has to be a different level of professionalism.
And that is something the minister’s team sorely lacked. It did not occur to the French protocol officers to include in the program of Madame Colonna’s visit to Azerbaijan, “for balance”, a visit to Ganja, damaged by Armenian missile attacks, to Aghdam, the “Hiroshima of the Caucasus”, to Tartar, subjected to fierce shelling throughout the occupation of Azerbaijani lands by Armenia… Quai d’Orsay deemed it unnecessary to maintain even a “protocol” balance between Baku and Yerevan during Colonna’s visit to the region.
Meanwhile, based on many indirect signs, a sort of “reset” or, as the French say, “redémarrer” of relations with Azerbaijan was expected from Madame Colonna’s visit. The head of the French Foreign Ministry herself called Azerbaijan and France strategic partners at a joint press conference with Jeyhun Bayramov and reminded that Paris had been among the first to recognize Azerbaijan’s independence.
But at the same press conference, Madame Colonna began to lecture Azerbaijan, saying that France does not accept “the unilateral steps taken by Azerbaijan” (referring to the checkpoint set up on the bridge over the Hakari), and even recalling the decision of the International Court of Justice. That was met with a harsh rebuke from the head of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry: “First of all, as for the unilateral step taken by Azerbaijan, it took this step on its own territory in accordance with its Constitution. Azerbaijan had informed everyone about the nature of the problem two and a half years before it took this step. France had never appealed to Armenia during that time. As for the decision of the International Court of Justice, the Lachin road is always open.”
Jeyhun Bayramov also reiterated that Azerbaijan had never been at fault for the tensions in relations with France. The “translation from the diplomatic language” is plain to see. If Paris wants relations with Azerbaijan to be restored to what they were in the past, when multimillion contracts were signed with France, when French firms were awarded very attractive contracts and the French Lyceum was opened in Baku, stock phrases at a press conference will not cut it. A serious policy adjustment is needed here. And it goes without saying that it also requires giving up on the “suitcase without a handle”, i.e., Armenia.
Frankly speaking, the French Foreign Minister’s trip to Istisu does not confirm Paris’s commitment to such a “reset”. Madame Colonna’s “redémarrer” is not working out. And this is certainly not Azerbaijan’s fault.
A. Shakur
Translated from Minval.az
